Tag: Passport

Many Nigerians, resident within and outside the country, have taken turns to testify to the new international passport processing regime across the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS) passport centres.

According to them, the speed of passport processing, since inception of the reform initiatives of the Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, is unprecedented in the history of NIS passport production.

One of them, Mrs Gbemisola Oyekan Fasasi, a Nigerian who lives and does businesses in Sweden, took to her Facebook page on October 21 to commend the new development.

She said: “Yesterday was nothing short of epic. I arrived the Nigerian Embassy in Stockholm at 2:55pm for passport renewal, I snapped and received my new passport at exactly 3:10pm!. 15mins! Waoh!

“The only record that beat this is the Swedish passport, which takes approximately 3-5minutes to complete! Impressive job from the team at Nigerian Embassy Sweden.”

Another Nigerian, Esther Chukwu, who applied and got her passport in five days, also went on her verified facebook page on Thursday September 2 to testify.

“My 10 Years Validity Passport is Ready.
I applied online and made payment on Sunday
Did my biometrics on Monday
Got it today being Thursday.
It took just 5 days,” she wrote.

Prince Adedoyin B. Alatishe, on October 30, also went on his verified twitter (X) page with his testimony and accolades to the Minister.

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“I can’t lie, the new Minister of Interior is showing workings. I applied for my passport upper Friday. No premium nothing. They told me it was ready last Thursday. I just picked it up now,” he said.

Another twitter (X) user with the handle @inamitegroup, corroborated. He wrote:
“Truth, the man really work his words, I did captured for a fresh passport on Thursday and picked up the passport the next week Friday”.

Tunji-Ojo on September 7, few days after his resumption in office as the Minister of Interior, gave NIS a two-week deadline to clear all pending passport applications within the country.

The directive led to 59,962 of them cleared within four working days.

On October 1, NIS announced that the entire 204,332 passport backlogs had been cleared.

According to the Acting Comptroller-General of the NIS, Caroline Adepoju, the new development is a result of the Minister’s reform initiatives, after a comprehensive research on the passport production process.

Caroline Adepoju, Acting Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has directed an investigation into some complaints of alleged misconduct against officers of the service in some passport offices across the country.

This is contained in a statement by the Service Public Relations Officer, Dr Adedotun Aridegbe, on Saturday in Abuja.

Adepoju, who expressed concern about the situation, directed an immediate investigation into the matter, especially in regard to the noncompliance with ministerial directives on the timeline of passport administration.

She said “following the complete clearance of passports application backlogs nationwide in line with the directive of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, a new timeline of two weeks for processing and issuance of passport was announced by the minister on Oct. 4.

“The minister and the NIS provided different phone numbers to the general public to report misdemeanors by NIS personnel at any of the NIS offices.

“The service has on a daily basis, monitored the compliance level at all passport offices nationwide and at our missions abroad.

“We receive daily reports on the production and issuance of passports from all Passport Control Officers.

“As of today, most of our passport offices are producing passports of applicants enrolled on Wednesday, Oct. 11, ” she said.

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Adepoju, however, explained that applications for reissuance of lost passports and change of data took a longer time.

She added that some applicants in this category might put the service in bad light when they complained of delay and noncompliance with the new timeline.

“These applications are required to go through security clearance and correspondence with Service Headquarters before approval for production,” she said.

The NIS boss appealed to members of the public to contact the Service through its various public communication channels.

This, she said included Twitter, Facebook handles (@nigimmigration) and contact centre on 09121900655, 09121556359 and 09121477092 to report any form of misconduct by any member of the workforce, for appropriate sanctions.

(NAN)

• Nigeria to open passport offices in Canada, others in 2024

By Emmanuel Badejo, Assistant Editor, Blessing Olaifa, Abuja and Ademola Mustapha

Interior Minister, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, yesterday explained how the ministry, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and other stakeholders cleared 204,332 passport backlog across the country within three weeks.

The minister, who praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the feat, said it all started when Mr. President said: “Look, I didn’t appoint you to that ministry to give excuses. Go and change the narratives, especially of passport applications and collection. Nigerians have had enough of that problem.”

He expressed delight that in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu, the Ministry of Interior, the NIS, and other stakeholders aligned with “the talk and do” mantra of the present administration.

Tunji-Ojo gave the explanation while addressing reporters yesterday in Abuja on how the NIS handled the September 7 deadline he gave passport offices across the country to issue the travel document to Nigerians who had applied for it.

Read Also: Applicants will now get passports in two weeks, says minister

The minister explained that NIS personnel had to do three shifts each day, including Saturdays and Sundays, to meet the deadline.

According to him, the service providers of the NIS were also made to double up their printing capacities and capabilities, especially in areas where passport backlog was higher.

Tunji-Ojo said: “Yes. I gave a two-week deadline. I, however, have to apologise to Nigerians that we delivered on it in three weeks. We had 204,332 Nigerians whose data had been captured, and we cannot continue to watch them waiting endlessly. I visited the headquarters of the Immigration Service and told them the narrative must change.

“So, in critical frontline desks, like Ikeja, Alausa, Ikoyi, Ibadan, Abuja, we ordered that more printing machines be brought in by the service providers. Then, we increased the working hours of the personnel of the NIS. They started running three shifts.

“Let me at this juncture commend the Acting Comptroller General of the Immigration Service, Mrs. Wura-Ola Adepoju, especially for her positive responses to the pressure I mounted on her. I would call her late and demand updates, and she would provide updates. That’s the spirit.”

He regretted that, for instance, at the Ikoyi Passports office, a backlog of 39,170 passports was cleared, but only 9,458 have shown up to collect the booklets; 21,108 were cleared in Alausa; a large number of applicants are yet to show up to collect the documents.

The minister noted that to sustain the momentum, the ministry would embark on some reforms with the NIS.

According to him, by December, Nigerians can upload online all supporting documents, including their passports, to the Immigration Service.

Tunji-Ojo said the measures would reduce human interfaces and corrupt practices, while bureaucratic bottlenecks that have been dismantled would not resurface anymore.

The minister said applicants would only show up at Immigration offices for biometric capturing of their data to reduce the period of application for and collection of passports to two weeks.

He said: “The Federal Government will not increase passport fee, despite the foreign exchange situation in the country. What we are committed to do is to make the experience of passport applications and collections sweet for Nigerians anywhere in the world.

“Another reform we are undertaking is to open Passports Front Desks, home and abroad, for seamless application and collection. I am from Akoko in Ondo State. With a Passports Front Desk, it means I don’t have to race to the state capital in Akure before I get a passport.

“And for Nigerians in diaspora, we are doing the same thing. You will not need to leave Canada or New York before you renew your passports.

“So, we are working out the number of front desks that will be opened by February. Nigerians will see the difference as we activate passport front desks across the world.”

Providing more information on how the backlog was cleared, the minister said the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), now domiciled in the Ministry of Interior, was carried along.

He praised the management of NIMC for the support, expressing confidence that more collaboration would be engendered forthwith.

Tunji-Ojo said in the first five days of the deadline he issued, over 55,000 pasports were cleared; by 10 days, over 97,000 passports were cleared.

The minister said he dedicated a line to the assignment to ensure strict compliance.

According to him, reports indicated that Kaduna, Rivers, Kano, Katsina states, and towns, like Ilesha, Abuja and Gwagwalada, have recorded zero backlog.

The Nation gathered that as at September 28, 2023, out of a total backlog of 204,332 passports waiting for clearance, 195,795 had been cleared, leaving a balance of 8,537.

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has cleared all the 204,332 Passport application backlogs following the two-week deadline given to the NIS on September 7, by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

Information obtained by our correspondent from the minister’s office in Abuja indicated that the backlogs were cleared on October 1 as the personnel of the NIS continued to work to meet the deadline set by the minister.

The Nation recalled that the minister who had on his maiden visit to the Headquarters of the NIS in Abuja had expressed sadness over delays in the issuance of Passports and the harrowing experiences of Nigerians home and abroad, on the matter.

He said he has been following developments in the Nigeria Immigration Service on the issue and urged the Service to change the narratives, insisting that under his watch, Nigerians would not suffer to obtain the documents.

Findings by our correspondent revealed that as of Thursday last week, the total outstanding backlogs of Passports stood at 8,537.

Read Also: Immigration clears 190,000 backlog of passports

In the first five days of the Minister’s deadline over 55,000 Passport backlogs were cleared, while the figure moved to 97,000 after three weeks.

Reports from across the country showed that some Desks have cleared all Passport backlogs. Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Kano, Katsina, Ilesha, Abuja, and Gwagwalada among others recorded zero backlogs as of Thursday last week. The Nation had reported that over 195,000 were cleared then.

The breakdown showed that between last Thursday and Sunday, October 1st, the Ikoyi Passport Desk cleared a backlog of 5,423.

Festac in Lagos cleared 1,119 backlog, Ibadan cleared 111, while Ilorin cleared 1,017 Passport backlog.  Sagamu in Ogun state cleared 867 backlog.

The minister, it was learnt, has promised to keep a close watch on the operations of the personnel of the NIS in the country to ensure compliance with his directives that all human errors and interfaces that precipitate delays in the issuance of Passports should be avoided forthwith.